Apparatus for pulverizing and drying particulate matter

A particle pulverizing apparatus comprising:

• a housing comprising an inner grinding surface, a particle inlet for receiving particles into the housing, and a rotatable drive shaft oriented along an axis and supporting a rotor defining a particle pulverizing domain between the grinding surface and the rotor, the pulverizing domain being configured for pulverizing the particles;
• a coarse particle extraction assembly comprising an extraction port in the housing downstream of the pulverizing domain and configured for extracting a coarse particles portion of the particles;
• a conduit communicated with the coarse particle extraction assembly for receiving and transporting the extracted coarse particles;
• and
• an air nozzle configured for discharging an air jet into the conduit to reduce the pressure at the extraction port to extract coarse particles therethrough from the housing.

A particle pulverizing apparatus comprising:

• a housing having a particle inlet for receiving particles into the housing;
• a primary pulverization mechanism within the housing configured for conducting a first pulverization process for pulverizing the particles;
• a coarse particle extraction assembly comprising an extraction port in the housing downstream of the primary pulverization mechanism and configured for extracting a coarse particles portion of the particles;
• a conduit communicated with the coarse particle extraction assembly for receiving and transporting the extracted coarse particles back to the housing upstream of the primary pulverization mechanism;
• and
• a secondary pulverization mechanism within the conduit configured for conducting a second pulverization process, different than the first pulverization process, for pulverizing the coarse particles.